“He still has to live his life.”
“So do we all. Hoorah.”
Early on in the season three premiere, Senator Foulkes states that “life is always perilous…that’s what gives it spice”. Rectify understands that life is full of uncertainty, that just one event can cause a ripple effect amongst a community and can upend everything in one’s life. Whether it’s with regards to Daniel being released or Daniel confessing, each and every character is affected in some way, growing and changing and hurting and loving as genuine human beings. It’s what makes this show so special: it treats the myriad experiences and people that make up life with immense respect.
This is an episode filled with statements like “he doesn’t know”, “sometimes things don’t make sense”, “I didn’t know what else to do”, “you never know”, “that’s the thing you never really know for sure”, and “I don’t know”. These characters are attempting to figure things out, to make sense of changing circumstances and shifting dynamics, and it’s just plain difficult to do. Without Daniel’s case to bring them together, Amantha and Jon aren’t really sure if they can move forward together, and the scene between them contains the resigned “hoorah” of someone whose life is plodding along. That type of uncertainty also reigns supreme in the Teddy-Tawny relationship, one that’s filled with pain and loss and emptiness written on the faces of Clayne Crawford and Adelaide Clemens.
And yet, even though there is a ton of pain hanging over every scene in this episode, what the writers make clear is that there will always be things in life that you just have to accept. Expectations may not mesh with reality, but as the Thrifty Town boss tells Amantha: “Life happens, and well, there are worse places to end up”. If you just sit back and let the world around you consume you, then you’re not really doing yourself much good. As Amantha makes clear at the end of the episode, she’ll let Daniel stay with her for a bit, but things have certainly changed between them. She’s coming around to accepting a life that doesn’t revolve around Daniel–that doesn’t revolve around her being a “keeper”–and she really wants Daniel to make an effort to care about himself. Engaging with yourself and with the world around you is necessary in order to keep pushing on, and it’s a beautiful moment when Daniel says: “I’ll try to try.” Life is going to happen. Life is going to hurt. Oftentimes, though, what you get out of life is what you put into it.
GRADE: B+
OTHER THOUGHTS:
– “Parks are one of our better ideas.” Leslie Knope is so happy about this statement.
– “I’ve never really read outside underneath the big blue sky. It’s almost too much.” The show’s handling of Daniel and nature is really amazing. That scene is such a great showcase for the magnificence that is Aden Young.
-That execution flashback/fantasy is better done than most fantasy sequences. You can really feel the pure emotion driving the scene.
-The scene in which Janet confuses Teddy’s love of Willie D’s for Daniel’s is really heartbreaking to watch. This is then followed up by the scene between Janet and Ted on the doorstep, which is beautifully played by Cameron and Crawford.
-This cast. Amazing.
-Note: some of my reviews may be late this season, seeing as television decided to put everything worth watching on Thursdays this summer at 10/9 Central. However, seeing as next week’s episode appears to be online at Sundance.tv, that review will drop immediately following the episode.
-Yay to a season four renewal!
Photo credit: Rectify, SundanceTV
Polar Bears Watch TV 
I just love this show so much. The scene with Daniel in the park and him and Amantha talking at the end were probably my favorite parts. Also thanks for the heads up about the second episode! It seems to be OnDemand on Comcast too.
You truly are a rockstar at getting these reviews out so fast.. once again, I applaud you and your great..extremely fast reviews!! 😀